I had a twenty three hour layover in Incheon Airport which is just a short bus ride from Seoul, so decided to head into Seoul, get some sleep and explore a bit. I arrived late at night so I found my hostel and went to bed. The next day I spent my time exploring about some of the palaces, markets full of dried anything from the ocean and walking around the main road near my hostel. I didn't spend enough time to have real feel for Seoul, but from my time there I did enjoy it and wouldn't mind visiting again in the future.
Tokyo is an amazing city. It's size and population are stagering. It is a city that in it's busy parts never sleeps, but, surprisingly, on the outskirts can feel like a small town and can be very peaceful and quiet even at lunch time. The metropolis of Tokyo consists of 23 city wards, 26 cities, 5 towns and 8 villages at over 12 million people There a difference of 2 million people in Tokyo between night and day due to the amazingly efficient and vast subway system. I really enjoyed visiting Tokyo and experiencing a taste of both the amazing energy, technology and night life as well as the beauty serenity and peace that can be found in the same amazing city. While their I rented a city bike for three dollars a day and used that to explore my area. I also used the subway extensively and was amazed both by it's complexity and scale as well as how intuitive, easy and most of all punctual it was. I visited the Electronics District Akihabara, The Tsukiji Fish Market, Shibuya, Asakusa Temple as well as Kappabashi Street an are full shops with all kinds of kitchen gadgets and even plastic food that looks so real it makes your mouth water. I hope to return to Japan in the future and further explore this beautiful country that seems to do a great job mixing cutting edge technology and culture with tradition and nature.
If you want to go to a beautiful and incredibly inexpensive beach paradise I highly recommend Koh Chang Island! The water is beautiful, the people are amazingly kind and generous and the atmosphere is fun, and relaxing. I stayed in a bamboo bungalow right on the ocean. The Sunsets here were some of the best I've seen with Palm tree silhouettes and beautiful calm water. I had a very relaxing time and met some new friends from Germany while there. We all went on a snorkeling trip on one day and got to see the beautiful underwater life of the Gulf of Siam. I hope to visit Koh Chang again in the future as I developed a good friendship with the sweet hotel owner and loved the beautiful and relaxing atmosphere.
Home to beautiful caves, waterfalls, and a dark history, Kanachaburi is the location of the famous Bridge over the River Kwai, Hell Fire Pass and the Kanachaburi War Cemetery. After a sobering, but informative and awe inspiring visit to the War Cemetery, Bridge over the River Kwai and Hell Fire Pass I was excited to find my pre-aranged lodging for the night turned out to be a very nice floating hotel on the river accessed via motorized Thai Long Tail Boat! It was a really cool hotel and quite a treat.The next day I woke up early to go ride and wash Elephants. Elephants are very awkward animals to ride in my opinion. Not uncomfortable, but I just felt like it would be easy to fall of if you weren't careful and the top of an elephants head is pretty high in the air. It was really fun to ride the elephants and bathing them after the ride was well worth the extra money it had cost. They are amazingly gentle animals and fun to play in the water with. After the Elephant ride I went spelunking in a really cool cave and then to a beautiful water fall to swim a bit before heading back to Bangkok to leave for Koh Chang the next day.
